Small objects of desire

4 April, 201422 May, 2021

Siouxsie and the Banshees ‘The Peel Sessions 1977-1978’ 7″ coloured vinyl EP (Strange Fruit, 677002, 1991)

An odd little curio, two tracks apiece from the bands first two Peel sessions jumbled up on this 7″ EP that sells itself on the packaging to the max, with a mish-mash of Banshees eras; early, pre-Polydor recordings with a Kaleidoscope/JuJu era? Siouxsie pic and typeface logo from the ‘Kiss In The Dreamhouse’ era – topped off with light blue marbled vinyl for the disc itself. Both sessions from which the tracks were culled had already been out before on 12″, cassette and CD some years earlier, with the plainer, more interchangeable, generic style sleeve designs and subsequently various outings for Banshees BBC material. A rougher and rawer Banshees sound before Steve Lillywhite’s production touch and ‘space’…

Siouxsie and the Banshees - The Peel Sessions 1977-78 7 inch EP front cover — *^ Siouxsie and the Banshees – The Peel Sessions 1977-78 7 inch EP front cover*

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30 March, 201422 May, 2021

Elektric Music ‘TV’ German MiniDisc (SPV 076-92678, 1993)

An odd little item this, from Elektric Music – Karl Bartos’ initial post-Kraftwerk creative outlet, along with former Rheingold member, Lothar Manteuffel. 1993 saw the release of their debut album; ‘Esperanto’ and ‘TV’ was a highy catchy single released prior the album. In their native Germany, it came on 12″, 12″ picture disc, very limited promo-only 10″, CD single and this mini-disc edition. The mini-disc being somewhat desirable because in addition to the standard ‘TV’ track it also contained the longer re-take that is ‘TV 2’ in digital format – all other formats for ‘TV 2’ were vinyl – for whatever reason, it never appeared on the CD single variants – they instead had another take on the track, ‘Television’. As well as these two versions of ‘TV’, the mini-disc also contained two tracks from Elektric Music’s first single, ‘Crosstalk’, released in Germany at the tail end of the previous year. (‘Intercomix’ being a variant of ‘Crosstalk’ itself.)

Elektric Music 'TV' minidisc - front case design — *^ Elektric Music â€˜TVâ€™ minidisc – front case design*

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30 October, 201322 May, 2021

Button badge goodness: Xmal Deutschland

Another helping of vintage button badge goodness to bring a dash of post-punk style to any jacket/bag badge mount of choice – this time around courtesy of blog semi-regulars, Xmal Deutschland. Spanning various eras, 4AD and beyond, these were all bought back in the day – I managed to see Xmal play live a couple of times, in support of the Stranglers and headlining when promoting the ‘Viva’ tour, and damn fine they were too.

Xmal Deutschland badge design - grey/red 'Matador' era — *^ Xmal Deutschland badge design – grey/red â€˜Matadorâ€™ era*

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27 November, 20127 June, 2022

Japan – ‘Nightporter’ Japanese 12″ ‘Pic Label’ series single (Virgin, VIP-4181, 1982)

In a previous post, I looked at the UK single release of ‘Nightporter’, which saw a 7″, 12″ and unique DJ edit 7″ editions. Another notable issue is the Japanese 12″ 6-song ‘Pic Label’ series EP (Virgin, VIP-4181). Retaining the same design for the front as the UK 12″ release, the rear featured a band pic along with the titles for the featured songs – which gathered together a number of edits and non-LP tracks that had surfaced originally on UK singles.

Japan - 'Nightporter' Japanese pic label 12 inch single — ^ Japan – \’Nightporter\’ Japanese pic label 12 inch single

Of note, despite being a 12″ single, it is the 5’02” remix that is featured, as per the regular UK 7″ single, as opposed to the longer 12″ remix you might have expected to find. Similarly, despite being titled as ‘Long Version’, ‘Ghosts’ as featured on this release is in fact the same 7″ edit as per the UK single release. Finishing off side one, ‘The Art of Parties’ is the live ‘version’ that first appeared on the flip side of the ‘Ghosts’ UK 7″ single. Side two of this 12″ features a couple of tracks from the ‘Gentlemen Take Polaroids’ UK 7″ single along with ‘Life Without Buildings’, the superb B side of the original ‘Art of Parties’ single release. Continue reading “Japan – ‘Nightporter’ Japanese 12″ ‘Pic Label’ series single (Virgin, VIP-4181, 1982)”

9 August, 20129 December, 2019

Button badge goodness: Propaganda

Sold on their 1985 ‘Outside World’ tour, this small metal/enamel badge, delightfully inscribed with the legend, ‘The Propaganda Wish’ adds a dash of icy cool ‘Abba from Hell’ synth rock sophistication to any lapel!